Rally Falls Short At Valley City

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (9/10/11)---Concordia rallied from a 2-0 deficit at Valley City State to force a fifth, and deciding, set before falling 3-2 (25-16, 25-15, 20-25, 19-25, 15-11) to the Vikings.

The Cobbers staged a similar comeback in the fifth set as they fell behind 8-4 only to rally and tie the set at 9-9. Valley City then won the next four points to take a 13-9 lead and grab control of the match.

The loss is the seventh straight for Concordia which falls to 1-7 on the season. The Vikings have now won four of their last six matches and up their season record to 4-6.

The team statistics were very comparable. VCSU held a 62-50 edge in kills and a slim 66-62 margin in digs. The Cobbers came away with one more block in the match (8-7).

Concordia hit .190 for the five sets which included a match-high .250 in the fourth set. The Vikings hit .258 on the night and .353 in the fifth set.

The Cobbers had a pair of players with double-digit kill totals. Kendra Wiggs had a team-high 13 winners while Bailey Gronner came away with 10 kills. The two also had attack percentages above .300. Wiggs hit .308 and Gronner led the team with a .400 mark.

Jill Klaphake had 27 assists to lead the CC offense. She also put up a match-high three service aces and added nine digs. Lexi Turn had 16 assists and six digs. Gabby DeBoer led the team in digs with 12. She has led the team in that statistical category in all eight matches this season.

UP NEXT: Concordia will compete in its final multi-team tournament of the season this weekend when they participate in The Wartburg Invite. The Cobbers will face Grinnell and Coe on Friday, Sept. 13 and host Wartburg and Webster (Mo.) on Saturday.